The Experiment
by Nessy
Summary: ... an experiment with human relationships...


TITLE: The Experiment (1/1)

AUTHORS: Nessy & Cirglas

CATEGORY: V R H

RATING: PG

DISCLAIMER: Don't worry, be happy...Ouch, Cirglas! Stop  
that! I know, I know. Disclaimer... Okay, here goes: Our  
favorite characters don't belong to us. They belong to 10-13  
Productions and Chris Carter and, I guess, the rest of the  
staff and especially David and Gillian. Cirglas and I are  
probably the last ones on the list who they could belong to.  
And we'll give them back, promise. We're just borrowing them  
from time to time to write some stories when we are bored.  
Like when they only have episode reruns on the TV. UGH! I  
WANT SOME NEW EPS!!

SPOILERS: Pilot, Memento Mori, Redux trilogy

KEYWORDS: Mulder/Scully Romance

SUMMARY: This has absolutely nothing to do with the  
Consortium or any other government conspiracy. Actually, it's  
more like ... an experiment with human relationships...  
smile...

POST: Wherever (But tell us where you're gonna post it. We'd  
like to know where it is posted.)

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THE EXPERIMENT (1/1)  
By Nessy & Cirglas

The office was messy. Like always. Mulder had always found it  
fascinating how everyone else needed so much room for  
everything. /Look at this small office and notice how much  
fits into it./ OK, Scully wasn't too happy about the state of  
the office, but hey, they were stuck down here in the tiny  
basement office, so why argue? Nobody else came down here  
anyway. Mulder shifted to make his position - sitting on the  
chair, his feet on the desk - more comfortable.

Scully wasn't there yet so he had some time to think. When  
she was there he had to at least pretend that he was working.  
She was always trying to make him get his part of their paper  
work done - something he deeply despised - so that Skinner  
for once wouldn't be aggravated at him. She tried to keep him  
out of trouble. But they both knew, he would get into trouble  
somehow anyway. Still, she did her best. Ever the good  
partner. The problem with Scully, though, was that Mulder  
didn't know were he stood with her personally. He knew  
there was mutual attraction between them, but would that be  
enough? Enough to ... make their relationship something more  
than mere partnership?

Since yesterday he had been preoccupied with that question.  
They had worked on a long and emotional case together. Scully  
had been in danger again. And he had been forced to think  
about loosing her - again. Not a very pleasant thought, mind  
you. And yesterday they had spent the rest of the day  
finishing up the paperwork. Well, uh, she had done paperwork,  
while he had spent the time trying to pull his gaze away from  
her. To be exact, the big purple/black bruise on her left  
cheek, which that maniac Matthews had left as a souvenir. His  
thoughts while looking at her had been simple:

/Too close to loosing her...way to close...too often too  
close...TOO DAMN CLOSE!/ Repeating the words like a mantra in  
his head had left him frustrated. And he had needed to get  
his thoughts off of Scully for a while. And that had resulted  
in him going to a bar an meeting a nice, pretty, busty, long-  
legged woman with chocolate-colored hair, called Elaine.

The problem was, she didn't distract him from his Scully-  
thoughts. Oh, no. As a matter of fact, he had ended up  
comparing Elaine to Scully all the time. And to sum it up,  
Elaine didn't have a chance. He guessed his era of brown-  
haired, long-legged, brown-eyed, busty "Phoebes" was at an  
end. Much more he started to find brave, strong-willed, red-  
headed, blue-eyed, petite FBI-agents to be incredibly sexy.  
But, he was still planning on asking Elaine out for dinner  
this evening again - against better judgment.

He raised his head as he heard Scully's familiar footfall  
just outside the office. The door opened and, sure enough,  
there she was, smiling a bright smile and offering a friendly  
"Good morning, Mulder".

He returned the smile and replied:  
"Morning, Scully." /How can one man be so happy to see a  
particular woman?/

As she sat down her hair shifted and he saw the dark mark on  
her cheek again. The all-too-familiar rage and guilt surged  
through him and ruined his good mood. But he was relieved to  
see that the bruise was fading.

Scully looked over to him and saw his stricken expression.

"Mulder...I'm fine," knowing that he didn't like to hear  
those words nor believed them anymore, she added, "really."

Embarrassed at being caught staring and showing his emotions  
so openly, Mulder looked down at his desk again. How could he  
let anything like that happen to his Scully? But Scully's  
soft voice kept him from brooding over the subject any more.

"So, Mulder, have a nice evening out?" He looked up at her  
again in surprise.  
"How did you know I was out?"

She smiled a smile, one he only knew as her 'dangerous'  
smile.  
"'Cause I tried to call you yesterday. But only got your  
machine."

He nodded his head. /She tried to get in touch with me?/ Had  
she had a nightmare? Had she been in pain? At first these  
thoughts worried him, but then he realized that Scully,  
should the need occur, would leave a message on his machine  
if something had happened. So his worry transformed into  
delight.

"Any special reason?" he tried to appear uninterested, except  
for his special Scully-leering face.

"No, actually not. Just wanted to check whether you had taken  
the pictures of the crime scene home with you or if you had  
left them here. Because I couldn't find them here."

He didn't quite manage to hide his disappointment. /She  
called me because of work?!/

/Well, stupid, why else should she have called? To declare  
her undying love? Come on, stop daydreaming./

But dutifully he opened the second drawer of his desk and  
rummaged around only briefly before pulling out a pile of  
pictures and holding them up to her with a satisfied grin.  
"Haven't you ever heard of something called 'Mulder-filing?'"

Scully got up from her chair and moved across the office to  
stand next to Mulder. She smiled down at him sweetly and  
said:  
"I've heard of it, but I've never really managed to work with  
it. Thanks."

Their hands touched as he handed her the photos and lingered  
a little longer than necessary. /Could it be that she feels  
something for me, too?/ Mulder's curiosity got the better of  
him. Spontaneously he decided to test Scully! How would she  
react to the news about him going out with somebody else?  
Would she be jealous? Or would she simply not care? He hoped  
for the former, but was frightened of the latter. He couldn't  
deny it anymore, he was dying to know if she was jealous. So  
he decided to make an experiment.

Scully was seated back at her desk, working on some report.  
"Well, Scully, to answer your earlier question: My evening  
out was nice." Mulder tried to seem indifferent, but eyed  
Scully out of the corner of his eye. To his dismay she didn't  
react at all. He might have thought she hadn't heard him at  
all, hadn't it been for the - for him a little too bored  
sounding - "Unh hunh?". /Now for the second shot/

"I met this really nice woman. Her name is Elaine."

Still no reaction.

"We had a lot of fun yesterday and I'll ask her out for  
dinner again tonight. I think we'll go somewhere fancy."

Now she did react. She looked up at him with an indiscernible  
expression on her face. /Got ya./ He really hoped it was  
jealousy. And she did look a little confused. /She looks just  
like she does when she's desperately trying to make sense of  
one of my theories./

Finally - totally unexpected - a small  
smile formed on Scully's lips and she said:

"You know what? I went to this absolutely gorgeous Italian  
place last week with my mom. Maybe you should take your  
Elaine there. It's around the corner from that Chinese take-  
out place... what's it's name again?... oh yes, right, 'Son  
Do'... It's really only a few feet away from that."

Startled into speechlessness, Mulder could only stare at her.  
She wasn't the least bit jealous? Had he been wrong assuming  
that she was interested in him? Or did he only need to fan  
the flames a little more/Okay, Scully, you asked for it./  
"Ah, I don't know, Scully, she's a pretty sophisticated  
person. She's good-looking, well-educated, dresses  
expensively and all that stuff."

"Don't worry, the restaurant is quite high class. Oh, Mulder,  
you forgot to tell me what she looks like!" A strange smile  
crept over her face.

Finally things looked like they might be going the way he  
wanted them to. /Now we can make her jealous, buddy./ "Well,  
then I'll just do that now."

"Ooohhh, I'll finally find out what your 'type' is", she  
joked.

He simply ignored her comment - at least out loud. /You're my  
type, Scully./ "Elaine is quite tall - almost all leg -, has  
chocolate-brown hair, brown eyes and I'd say a 34C bra."

The shock-effect had been successful, as revealed by the  
expression on Scully's face. /Finally. At least she's  
reacting./ "Her bra? Do you do that with every woman, Mulder?  
Find out or at least guess the bra size on the first date?"

And Mulder was glad to detect a tad of crimson creeping up  
her cheeks. He nodded and flashed a bright grin at her.  
"Well, ... Mr. Know-It-All, what do you think is my size?"

/Aha. Couldn't have gone any better, old boy./ "Well, I  
didn't need to guess yours, since you practically showed it  
to me on our very first case."

They shared a long look and Mulder almost thought that she  
would ask him to take her out for dinner instead, but that  
wasn't the case. She simply turned back to her report. Maybe  
he wasn't as irresistible as he had always thought. /Nah.../

Well, anyhow, Scully sent him home early - yeah, you got it  
right - sent him home early so he could dress up and still  
wouldn't be late for his date. He had no chance other than to  
do what she suggested. Should he show that he wasn't at all  
eager to go out with Elaine? That he much more preferred to  
go out with the red-head in front of him? He didn't dare. So  
he left.

-------------------

The next morning Mulder was sitting back in the office again.  
Scully wasn't there yet, so, just like the day before, he had  
some time to think about last night. He had met up with  
Elaine and she had offered him some things... things that a  
few years ago would have had him racing her to her bedroom.  
But what had surprised even himself was that he had refused  
the offer. Although he knew he wasn't a saint, the fact that  
he had rejected the quite delightful Elaine had almost  
convinced him otherwise.

As soon as he had told Elaine that he was in love with  
someone else, she had stopped making passes at him  
immediately. But then she had asked all about this big love.  
And he had told her. The psychologist in him told him that he  
had needed to talk to someone about Scully and himself for a  
long time. But the truth was, he simply enjoyed thinking and  
talking about Scully.

Mulder grinned. /Ah, Scully, I've sorted out my feelings, now  
it's time to make you aware of yours... if you feel that way  
about me... please do.../

Scully picked that moment to enter their small, crammed  
office. And instead of a 'good morning' she simply asked:  
"So, how was it?"

Mulder of course couldn't tell her what he had confided to  
Elaine since he didn't quite know how she felt about him yet.  
He thought she might be in love with him, too, but that she  
might not have figured it out yet. And so he decided to make  
her jealous. So he started dropping hints as to how great the  
evening had been. But once again his efforts weren't  
recognized. She didn't give him any clue as to what she  
thought about the whole situation.

Her reaction had only been a mysterious smile, and that had  
been all. He felt the feeling of Deja-vu spreading through  
him. /Didn't we have this game yesterday?/ And when he ran  
out of made-up happenings from yesterday she sat down at her  
desk and started typing away on her computer.

He was running out of possibilities AND ideas. How was he  
supposed to make her jealous when she didn't even react? He  
had only one last chance. He needed to see her reaction to  
some real interaction between Elaine and himself. So he went  
ahead, picked up his phone and called the time information.

"Oh, hi. Elaine? It's me. Mulder."

(At the next beep it will be nine o'clock, ten minutes and 20  
seconds)

"Oh, yeah, I missed you, too."

(9:10:40)

"Hey, hey, I'm not alone in my office ... Yeah, we could do  
that later tonight."

(9:11:00)

Mulder saw Scully get up from her desk, walking over to the  
file cabinet and rummaging through it with her back to him.  
He was delighted to notice that the knuckles on the hand that  
was holding onto the cabinet were white from the tight grip  
she had on the metal.  
/Oh, now we're getting somewhere./ He congratulated himself  
to his great idea.

"Well, I'm only calling you to thank you for the hot night  
yesterday. I enjoyed it." Suddenly Scully's throat made a  
strange sound that sounded like something between choking and  
coughing and she doubled over. Mulder, terribly concerned,  
jumped um from his seat and threw down the phone. When he was  
at her side - less than a second later - he brought her to  
his chest and while patting her back tried to calm her.

Scully held onto him tightly, forcefully clutching his shirt.  
That made Mulder worry even more. And that sound again...was  
it crying? He hoped to God this ... seizure ... wasn't some  
kind of after-effect of the stress she had been in with the  
last case. Or - /God, please no!/ - her cancer returning.

But as his head spun with all the fears he had, she shook her  
head and her laughter filled the room.

/What the ...?/ And between the laughing fits she burst out:  
"Stop it. I can't take any more!"

Mulder, totally in shock almost dropped her out of surprise.  
But then it suddenly dawned on him that something was going  
on. Something he'd better find out about soon.

As Scully's laughter finally subsided she smiled at him with  
tears in her eyes. "Oh, Mulder. Thanks for all that effort.  
I'm delighted. But you don't need to work so hard."

Mulder frowned down at her. "Scully? What are you talking  
about?"

"Elaine told me that nothing happened."

"H- how do you know Elaine?"

"Um...well...she's a...friend of mine."

Abruptly Mulder let go of her and started to turn away from  
her. Mulder's ego was bruised, but he tried to cover it with  
a usual joke.

"Ah, the 'women's-Network' at work."

Scully, still standing where she had been before, looked at  
his back with widened eyes while he stalked over to his desk.  
/I knew he'd be mad as soon as I told him that I had talked  
to Elaine, but this.../ He plopped down and started typing  
furiously away on his keyboard.

"Mulder?" No answer.

"Muuuuulder, please?" Still no answer.

Scully closed the drawer of the cabinet and quietly went over  
to stand behind him. She encircled his neck with her arms and  
rested her head on his shoulder. She knew that if she wanted  
to talk to him, she first had to apologize.

"I'm sorry, Mulder. I didn't want to hurt your feelings. I  
just talked to Elaine last night and found out that she was  
the Elaine you were talking about. And when she told me that  
nothing had happened between the two of you I was..." She  
paused to stress her next words. "...let's say...I was  
relieved."

Mulder hadn't moved since she had touched him except his back  
had jerked straight when her breath had grazed his ear. What  
was she trying to do? Tease him? Make fun of him? - Scully  
nuzzled his ear and kissed his cheek. - Kill him/Wait a  
second... had she said 'relieved'?/ Unable to keep himself  
from doing so, Mulder turned around with his chair and while  
pulling her down onto his lap kissed her passionately.

/Finally./ They both thought. Things were rapidly developing  
and they felt things getting out of hand. /If this doesn't  
stop soon, I might just take her right here on my desk./  
In the middle of it the phone rang. Not letting himself be  
disturbed Mulder blindly fumbled for the phone while she paid  
extra attention to his earlobe again.

"Yeah?" Mulder croaked into the phone. Scully was nibbling on  
the skin just under his ear.

"Skinner here. I just read through your expense report. And I  
wondered: WHAT THE HELL DID YOU THINK WHEN YOU FILLED IT  
OUT?! GET UP HERE!! RIGHT NOW!!"

Scully was pressing her lips to his Adam's Apple which made  
him more than squirm in his seat. Unable to trust his voice  
with anything else other than a groan, he put the phone back  
down without a word and looked at the innocently smiling  
Scully.

"Sorry to interrupt what you're doing but Skinner ordered us  
up to his office 'right now'."

"Too bad, we were having so much fun." Scully bobbed her  
eyebrows at him. She stood and straightened her skirt looking  
at him with disappointment in her eyes. /Don't look at me  
like that Scully. I might ignore orders, even though I  
promised you not to do that anymore./

Since there was no mirror in their office they had to check  
each other's appearance. They looked at each other.  
"Scully... Okay?"  
She crossed the space between them and wiped a smudge of  
lipstick from his cheek and straightened his tie. /She's  
standing WAY too close./

Thankfully she took a step back. "And how about me? Do I look  
okay?"

Mulder's gaze wandered from the tips of her shoes to the top  
of her head lingering on... certain areas.

"Okay? You look much too beautiful for my sanity."

Scully rolled her eyes and grabbed his wrist, pulling him out  
of their office. Mulder trotted willingly after her. The  
faster they got it over with the faster they could go do  
something else, right?

--------------

Once more Skinner was chewing them out. But this time they  
weren't really listening. They had a far-away look in their  
eyes or, when Skinner wasn't watching them, they exchanged  
longing looks.

/I want to get out of here and be with Scully./  
"What do you think, Agent Mulder?"  
Since he hadn't been listening Mulder couldn't even guess  
what he had been asked. /Talking about being distracted./  
/Distracted? Not me. Not by the thought of those soft, hot  
lips pressing against mine... Get your mind out of the  
gutter./  
"You're perfectly right, Sir."

Skinner was dumbfounded. Had Mulder agreed with him?  
Something was going on. Mulder NEVER agreed.  
"Are you feeling all right, Agent Mulder? Is something  
wrong?" He glanced at Scully, "And, Agent Scully, you look a  
little bit flushed, too. Maybe you two should take a few days  
off, you're overdue on vacation anyway."  
"Yes, Sir." Mulder's and Scully's voice at the same time.  
This was definitely... spooky. Both agreeing?  
"Maybe you should take leave immediately. The last case seems  
to have been quite tiring." Skinner was obviously concerned  
about his favorite, but undeniably most exhausting, agents  
now. /You have absolutely NO idea..., Mulder thought.

Scully and Mulder walked through the halls as always: His  
hand on the small of her back, even-paced steps, their faces  
stern, looking as if they knew where they were going. They  
got into his car since hers was still being repaired. The  
only unusual thing about their departure was that Mulder  
seemed to try to break all the speed limits combined.

When they arrived at her apartment they slammed the door  
behind them and found themselves in each other's arms.  
"Where were we?" Scully asked with a smile, leaning up closer  
to touch her lips to his. And they continued where they had  
been interrupted so rudely.

----------------

Two days later:

RRRRRRING

"Scully."

"Dana! Hi, it's me, Elaine. Darling, I've got to tell you:  
I've tried to reach you for two days now and didn't even get  
your answering machine! I thought you always turn it on when  
you leave the house?"

"Well, to tell you the truth, Elaine, I didn't leave the  
house."

Pause.

"Are you saying it worked?"

"Yeah, it worked."

"Oh, Dana-darling, I'm so happy for you two! You know, when  
you first told me about your little experiment - finding out  
if he would take me up on my offers... - , I didn't think it  
would work. But, once again, you were right. Too bad, I would  
have liked to have kept him for myself. But he told me he  
loved you. And he's a good catch, believe me."

"Yep, he is."

Mulder's voice: 'Hey, Scully, who's on the phone?'

"Oh, Dana, so you were home all the time!"

"I told yooouuoooohhhhh."

"Dana? Everything okay?"

"Uh? Did you say something?"

"Is Mulder distracting you?"

"Uh, yeah, you could say that."

"Well, then I better not bother any longer. Bye, Darling."

"Bye."

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The End

Note:  
This is a story that has been lurking on my and Cirglas' hard  
disks for a while now. We decided to finally finish it and  
post it. So, in case you're totally disappointed, please  
remember that this is one of our first stories.

This is supposed to be a light piece to enjoy but not to  
become philosophical on.

Take care,  
Nessy & Cirglas

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Babe, come in from the cold  
and put that coat to rest  
Step inside, take a deep breath  
and do what you do best

Yeah, kick off them shoes  
and leave those city streets  
I do believe  
Love came our way  
And fate did arrange  
for us to meet

I love when you do  
That hocus-pocus to me  
The way that you touch  
You've got the power to heal  
You give me that look  
It's almost unreal  
It's almost unreal

Hey, we can't stop the rain  
Let's find a place by the fire  
Sometimes I feel  
Strange as it seems  
You've been in my dreams  
All my life

I love when you do  
That hocus-pocus...

---- Roxette (Almost Unreal)


End file.
